​Predatory Journals

Upon payment of a fee or subscription, some publishers make their research articles accessible. In the interest of wider dissemination of knowledge, other publishers will make some articles openly accessible (open access), meaning that users can freely access and read with work without any need for further payment or subscription.

To enable the research publication to be openly accessible, a publisher may charge an author a certain fee to cover the costs of such publication.

Peer review is a process where experts in a particular field assess and edit submitted research in order to ensure that the contents are credible and reliable and that it qualifies as quality research output.

The model of openly accessible publications has led to a rise in illegitimate journals based on an alternative business model (publish in our open access journal fast, usually at a high fee) whilst in reality, there is minimal or no peer review at all and the journal likely exists only on paper but not in theory.

Those illegitimate, scam or fake journals in such a sense are predatory, i.e. preying on researchers (who may be desperate to publish) by charging high fees but providing no real service in return (i.e. peer review) via phishing emails.

The result of publication in a predatory journal is the contamination of the quality of research due to substandard research which often lacks in meticulous peer review procedures, leading readers to rely on the wrong or unchecked information. As some of the research is not indexed nor the journals recognized by the scientific community, it is worth being extremely cautious when publishing with such journals.

It is important to note that, legitimate journals are also likely to have ineffective or no peer review. This does not mean that those legitimate journals are predatory but simply means that they have questionable review processes and researchers should question any publications with them.

If you would like a session on how to spot and avoid a predatory journal before publishing, please book using the side tab.​